With age a large percentage of the population develops atherosclerotic and thrombotic obstructions resulting in partial or total occlusions of blood vessels in various parts of the human anatomy. Such obstructions are often treated with angioplasty or atherectomy catheters and a common preparatory step to such procedures is the insertion of a guidewire through the obstruction.
An objective of the present invention is to provide, simple and reliable flexible guidewire system that comprises a pilot wire and a casing capable of crossing tortuous vasculature and obstructions, particularly tight and total obstructions. A further objective is to facilitate easy removal or insertion of the casing over the pilot wire while the pilot wire remains stationary in the vasculature.
The above and other objectives of the invention will become apparent from the following discussion and the accompanying drawings.